1884-85.] EdinbitrgJi Naturalists' Field Chib. 229 



who was not permitted to possess property, as it might cause him 

 to be avaricious and unjust ; and he was not allowed to have a wife, 

 as a legitimate family might create ambition. We do not think it 

 likely that the race that occupied Caisteal-nan-Gillean is here 

 referred to, as unless some of the Deer remains, which are supposed 

 to belong to the Eed-deer, should turn out to be those of the Reindeei', 

 we have no domestic animal giving milk that would be used for 

 human food except the Sheep, and its bones have only been dis- 

 covered in the upper layers of the deposit, showing that in all 

 likelihood it was introduced to the island during the later period of 

 the occupation of the mound ; while the Deer bones are found all 

 through from the lower to the upper strata. It appears to us that 

 though the dwellers at Caisteal-nan-Gillean were certainly accus- 

 tomed to eat fish, it is doubtful if they had milk to drink — the 

 probability being that they lived before the time to which Solinus 

 refers, and that this kitchen-midden was formed by a more ancient 

 people than those of whom he writes. Another reason for arriving 

 at this conclusion is to be found in the fact tliat, though the de- 

 posits in the Crystal-Spring Cavern on Colon say are very ancient, 

 it is only ii?* the lowest strata of the cave-floor that we find the 

 remains of- Deer — which points to their extinction on Colonsay and 

 Oronsay at a very early period. It is evident that it must have been 

 prior to this time that the kitchen-midden was accumulated, when 

 Deer were more plentiful on the islands, and fell an easy prey to the 

 primitive inhabitants with their rude weapons, on which they would 

 require almost solely to rely to kill the quarry — as there is no 

 indication of their having had dogs, so far as we can judge from 

 the remains. 



We now turn to the Irish tradition, said to have been preserved 

 by Fintan, who was baptised by St Patrick. After mentioning the 

 various settlements that took place in Ireland, and all of which are 

 reported to have come from the East, — either via the Mediterranean 

 Sea and the Straits of Gibraltar, or across the continent of Europe, 

 — he goes on to inform us that a people named the Firbolg came 

 to Ireland from Thrace. He says they were slaves to the Greeks, 

 having been conquered by that nation, who obliged them to dig the 

 earth and raise mould, and carry it in bags or sacks of leather, 

 known in Irish as holgs ; and that, being oppressed, they deter- 

 mined to escape from their masters by making boats out of their 

 leathern sacks in which they had to carry the soil. They succeed 

 in carrying out their plan, and at last arrive in Ireland, which was 

 divided into five provinces, ruled over by five brothers ; but the 

 people were only divided into three septs — viz., the Firbolg, or 

 " Men of the Bags," who, under Gann and Seangann, landed at 

 Jorrus Dommann in Connaught ; the Fir Domlman, so called from 

 the donihin or pits they used to dig, and who arrived under Gean- 



